The present invention relates in general to the art of earth boring and more particularly to a cutting element for an earth boring cutter.
Earth boring cutters have hard insert elements mounted in a cutter member body utilized in the boring of holes in the earth. The hard insert cutting elements have the ability to penetrate earth formations. In prior art cutters the length of the crest of the insert has been normal to the axis of the insert. The inner row inserts are in contact with the formation and, therefore, loaded highest on the outermost corner radius that is formed by the intersection of the crest and the outer side. This unbalanced unit loading on the insert may be sufficiently high to cause breakage. The cyclic loading due to cutter rotation imposes high unit loading on the corner radius, thereby promoting early fatigue failure.